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Snow surprises but does not slow life on the Avenue

William Valiante (left) and Michael Matos take Kilian’s recylcables to the curb this morning (Photo by Luke Harold)

by Luke Harold

The steady snowfall Wednesday morning into the early afternoon caught Chestnut Hill businesses and residents off guard.

“It was more than I expected when I woke up this morning,” said William Valiante, 28, who has worked at Kilian Hardware for four months.

He and Michael Matos, 40, in his second year working at the store, spent nearly two hours shoveling the front sidewalk. They said they haven’t salted the sidewalk because the snowfall has been too heavy.

“They said it was going to be on and off but it hasn’t stopped yet,” said Matos, as he and Valiante were making trips moving the store’s recyclables from the back to the front curb on Germantown Avenue.

The two also had to wait outside for a delivery truck with Kilian’s weekly inventory shipment, which they were expecting before noon.

Gideon Boericke, 50, had finished shoveling and salting the stairs and sidewalk outside of the Chestnut Hill Community Center and Women’s Exchange only to see it covered by another blanket of snow.

“I thought the weather said it was going to snow tomorrow night,” said Boericke, who has worked at the Community Centre for almost two years. “But it’s my job to get this thing cleaned.”

Mark Inniss, 23, was shoveling the front of the Chestnut Hill Community Association, where he has worked for a few months, for the second time Wednesday morning.

“I recognized how severe it was as I was walking up here this morning,” Inniss, a five-year Chestnut Hill resident, said.

Mt. Airy resident Cliff Harding, 65, came to Chestnut Hill this morning to run some errands. “This is my kind of weather,” he said as he brushed the snow off the windows of his car, which was parked on the street outside of Starbucks on Germantown Avenue. “I’ve been out here since a quarter to eight this morning.”

Cliff Harding, getting ready to return home after running errands and stopping in Starbucks. (Photo by Luke Harold)

7 p.m. Mt. Airy Arts Performing Center, 230 East Gowen Ave. Behind Grace Epiphany Church All classes are Free for the trial period, but a donation $3 to $5 is suggested per session for the teacher.[...]